We're enjoying unseasonably warm weather this past month or so, I know most everyone is. Yesterday and the day before we had record highs for this part of Idaho. Eighties! That's nice and warm for April. It has been a long long time since we planted our crops on April, but when the weather says "plant", we plant. Alan has already moved up to Squirrel yesterday doing George's place and are working the ground up at Highland next. Everything is planted here on the homeplace. The willow trees in my front yard are starting to leaf out and so are the lilacs. I mowed the grass today - it was overdue for a mowing, but Alan didn't get the lawn mower started until today. Something about batteries and spark plugs and the cold winter. Yeah, I know how that lawn mower feels. So we are just suddenly doing May things in April and that's OK with me.
Alan and I spend a lot of time with Leah and Lily. You never know what those two will say if you get in a good conversation with them. A couple of weeks ago, Alan, Lily and I went over to Howe, Idaho so Alan could finish up some custom planting and so we could bring the trailer and tractor back to Ashton. Leah couldn't go because she had preschool the next morning. In the trailer, Lily was bouncing off the walls because she got to have a sleepover in the trailer with grandma and grandpa. She is such a precocious child. She loves Alan and has him wound tight around her little finger. All she had to do is smile and he will give in to most any of her suggestions. During the night she started whimpering and woke Alan up. She wouldn't settle down and so he brought her into our bed so she could feel safe. The next morning, Alan was gone by 6:00 am. When Lily woke up, I asked her if she had a bad dream and what it was about. She said she was hiding from a shark and that it was trying to bite her. I think that would upset me too. While we had breakfast, we talked about the baby brother they were going to have. I asked her what his name was going to be and she said, "Wusso Wamanite!" For those of you don't know Lily talk, that means Russell Ramanite. His name is really going to be Russell Raymond, but Lily has related Raymond to Lamanite because of all the Bof M scripture reading going on at their house. So cute! Lily and I got going by about 11:00 a.m. and brought the trailer home and that night Alan got home with the tractor and air drill.
Leah is not as consumed with Grandpa as Lily is. She is an all-around good girl, but seems to have some worry issues. She's very sensitive. She rides her bicycle all around the farm, she even stands up and pumps and moves pretty fast. On Lily's birthday when it was time for the cake and ice cream, Leah shouted, "We're going to have ice cream with our cake, it is our favorite ice cream, it's called Bunny Traps!". Alan and I cracked up. Morgan thinks it's funny that Leah calls it Bunny Traps so she won't correct her and tell her it is Bunny Tracks.
They're getting so big now that Morgan and I can trust them to come and go between our houses. However, we must be notified that they are coming so we can look out for them. Yesterday, unbeknownst to me, Leah came over with a note for me from Morgan about borrowing a book, but I didn't hear the doorbell or the knock so Leah went home without getting into the house and was pretty upset, I guess. Oooops! Grandma was napping. Today, Morgan sent Lily over by herself and called me to tell me she was at the back door. I opened the door up and there she was all cute and smiley.
Last week we had a funeral in our ward. I was asked to bring a funeral potato casserole and so was Morgan. Alan and I went to the funeral while I had the potatoes cooking in the oven. After the funeral we hurried home so that I could get the potatoes and return back to the church. Before I went into the house I opened the trunk of my car so I could easily put the casserole in and be on my way. As I walked into the house I smelled the potatoes cooking and I pulled them out of the oven. Alan ran upstairs to change into his work clothes. The potatoes were heavy and I could hear them bubbling as I walked outside with them to the car. I was just looking around thinking to myself what a beautiful day it was and how green things were getting when CRUNCH and POP and excruciating pain in my ankle, and lurching and stumbling, and literally hanging on to the casserole to keep it from skidding into a big sour cream cheesy mess all over the driveway, all as I was wondering what the heck? and trying not to put any weight on my left foot. Miraculously, and probably because the guardian angel of funeral potatoes was watching my contortions, the potatoes were juggled and then saved about two feet from the ground. As I got control of my movements and turned back to the car trunk, which I had lurched past, I was starting to black out. I got the potatoes in the car, shut the trunk and then laid myself down on it. The pain was so intense I started to black out. That horrible nauseous feeling was overwhelming me and I thought I was going to fall over so I limped to the car door and as I did I looked and saw a pretty big sized pebble and thought to myself that I had probably set my high heel right down on that blasted thing. I got in the car, and then I thought, "I can't drive anywhere! I can't use my leg and I might faint right here." So I got out of the car and hobbled over to the fence and just about fainted again. I held onto the end of the fence trying to get my eyesight to clear up. When it did, I hobbled to the house and called for Alan. The problem was, I was so sick to my stomach, I could hardly make any sound come out of my mouth. Then I went the rest of the way and into the house. I worked my way to the bottom of the stairs and laid down on them. I called for Alan a few more times with no response. All this time, I was close to fainting. I had to crawl up the stairs calling for Alan and finally he heard me. He came running and got me in onto the couch where I proceeded to pull off as many clothes as I could. For some reason, my clothes were adding to my discomfort and I had to get them off. So then we got me in onto our bed where I rolled around and writhed in agony. I really did. It was the worst pain I had felt in a couple of decades, all centered in my left ankle. I told Alan he would have to take the potatoes to the church so he left, but luckily he met Morgan outside and told her what had happened so she took the potatoes to the church for me. Alan came back in to tell me and comfort me. For several minutes he ran around the house, getting me an ice pack, a cold wet cloth and pillows for propping up my leg, and I cried and rolled around on the bed. Then he asked if I wanted a blessing. I said yes, please. Although I wasn't sick, I certainly was afflicted. I asked that he would just bless me that the pain would lessen and then I could bear it. So he got the oil and then anointed and blessed me. After the blessing he got me a couple of Ibuprofen and I just laid there and cried. Then to top it off, I started to get the sparkly aura in my eyesight, a sure sign of an upcoming migraine. I hobbled into the bathroom, took a couple more ibuprofen, and then hobbled back to the bedroom and flopped over on my bed. I laid there for about 10 more minutes, and then suddenly my ankle stopped hurting like a son of a gun and I could calm down. I turned over to my side and gratefully thanked Heavenly Father for blessing me so fast and taking away the pain in my ankle. I saw my iPad and turned on some beautiful soft music and let the medicine dull the pain of my headache. And then I slept - for two hours. When I awoke, Morgan and the girls were there and so was the dull ache of the migraine and so was a large cankle.
( For those of you unfamiliar with the term this is from the Urban Dictionary: n. 1) An aesthetically unfortunate physiological condition which leaves its victims with no discernable narrowing of the ankle between the calf and the foot. 2) An ankle which has no discernable narrowing from the calf to the foot worsened by weight gain and improved in appearance only by boots.
History: The word is derived a combination of the words calf and ankle. Victims of this condition are advised to avoid the following: ankle boots, ankle-strap shoes, anklets, ankle socks, ankle tattoos, high-top shoes, and any other footwear or legwear that might draw attention to the cankle region.Used in a sentence: If I didn't have cankles, I might be able to wear those Prada loafers with my capri pants.)
This is the third time in the last thirty years I have severly rolled my ankle so that it results in a cankle. Alan keeps telling me to be careful, to not walk on uneven ground, encouraging me to use an ace bandage, keep it elevated, etc. Today, Lily and I went outside to help Alan pick up sticks off the lawn so that I could mow, but before I got very far into it, I stepped off the cement in back into a hidden hole and rolled same ankle yet one more time. The pain was not as severe, probably because I just went down with it. I wasn't trying to save funeral potatoes this time. Anyway, both Lily and Alan had to deal with me this time. Lily kept saying, It's ok grandma. It's ok. Grandma, you ok? Alan helped me hobble into the sunroom and then he cleaned up the rest of the lawn by himself. I'm pretty worthless sometimes. As of now, I haven't dared look at my ankle area, for fear I will see an even larger and offensive cankle.
Hoping it will get better soon so I can fit my ankle into my summer sandals before August.
